Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1887-08-10
Gales aud Sketfhes.
The Professional Beggars OF New York
and Their Tricks.

man whose haggard face and bent form
would indicate person of 70 or 80 years
Of age. She crouches at the foot of the
amppost clad externally in faded. torn,
fiimsv shawl and wretched calico dress,
her head capped by the most extraordin-
ary bonnet think | ever saw. On the
ground rests miniature hapd-organ, two
feet long and about six incnes high, from
which the old dame grinds the feeblest
suggestion of old time tunes, such as
Bob tailed Nag" DANDY Jim from
Caroline. odd Dog Tray" and Home,
Sweet Home.''
Her hands are long and skinny; her
fingers those of skeleton.
Crouching in the dark. feebly turning
this little crank, the old lady presents a
picture of desolation and destilution be-
side which Lazarus was very king. On
the top Of the little organ rests tin cup
battered and worn.
1 had curiosity one night to watch this
woman, and, taking my seat in a boot
blacks chair nearby, absorbed the situa
ton. 1t was about haf-past ten; the
street was filled with promenaders, and.
being in the vicinity of theatres, the
Academy and half dozen popular drink
ing saloons, there was continuous pro
cession Of men laughing, joking and jolly.
Hundreds passed without even noticing
her, but every now and then happy 60
lucky fellow would throw her coin and
in the course of my observation Is people
each gave her something. A respectfully
dressed man, apparently 40 years of age,
wearing noticeably long ulster and a
to see that his contribution
reached the cup and did not
tall upon the ground or upon the box, as
that of many others did. The half-hour
had about passed when the same man APP
preached her again. AS he leaned over,
apparently to put something in the cup, he
spoke to her and then, in an Indifferent
manner, crossed the street and stood in
front of liquor store on the corner.
Presently the old woman emptied the
contents OF the cup into her hand, looked
at it carefully and put it in her pocket.
Rising cautiously, she took her organ
under her arm, crossed the street and, as
the man moved off toward Third avenue,
followed him. With one boot polished
and the other simply blackened | handed
he boy his dime, and at a safe distance on
he other side oil the way followed the
palr. They passed Third avenue and
along Fourteenth street to Second avenue.
she some fifteen or twenty feet behind
him. As they turned into Second avenue
he stopped, waiting for her. took the in
sjrument, said something in laughing
tome and together they walked up Second
avenue Until they reached Sixteenth street,
" of To nd ba ri
There was no one else in The street at
NJ time. ard did not care to investigate
further for obvious reasons.
Ny judgment is that the woman is the
mans wife; that her feeble and emaciated
appearance is simply professional make
49,, and that together they reap a very
satisfactory harvest from the good nalured
people to whom a nickel or a dime is of
no onS' Qupnce.
On Twenty-third street | saw man
this morning whose face has been famil-
1T 10 me tor at least ten years. Some
times he stands in front of the Catholic
church in Barclay street, sometimes at
fuhon ferry, sometimes by the Academy
+ Music and occasionally in front OF the
rand Central Depot He has one of
the handsomest bald heads | ever saw
HIS face is as red as a rose. The hand
has been lost from his right arm and he
exposes round and shiny knob in its
place. He affects particularly cold weather
and on the bleakest days stands apparent
V >hivering from the top OF his shiny head
to the soles of his calloused heels as if he
were suffering intensely.
This morning as | was on Twenty third
ciH Of b,1 la
church, noticed the same man.
Some service had evidently been going
IN in the church, for hundreds of women
passed from it along the street. and in
what follows find a somew hat suggestive
hint, They were mainly poor people, ard
certainly one in every ten gave the beggar
some little token. | have noticed in
ferry boats. in cars and elsewhere, that
II is as a rule, the poorer and humber
orr de OF men and women to whom these
professional beggars look with confidence
Well, as | sad, this old fellow reaped a
very rich harvest this morning. | had
occasion to 90 into stable and then. hav-
ing gone out to Twenty fourth street. |
passed ong toward Sixth avenue, when.
tn my amazement, coming out of a lager
beer saloon wiping his lips, was my bald
head.d beggar. whom had seen half an
hour before collecting his contributions
from the faithful on Twenty third street.
| had half notion to accost and question
him, but, on the theory that a trade is a
trade and it is a good idea for every man
% mind his own business, passed along
For five or six years past meE on Wall
street have been accosted by poorly clad,
vtry pale, feeble looking girl of perhaps
twenty years of age, VINO generally has
her face and head done up in a bandage of
some kind. remember when first met
her gave her something two or three
umes but after while she became a
familiar figure, and concluding that she
was professional beggar. | gave her
nothing. have not seen her for year
or two until the day before Yesterday.
found her standing at the top of the
first section of the stairway leading to the
L" station on Park Place. Blocking the
passa9eway almost entirely stood this
girl, her head done up precisely as it was
when first saw her. in the same tattered
shawl. think-certainly with the same
woebegone expression on her not income
" face-extending the same begging
hand and with the identical piteous moan
upon her tongue. have always gone on
the theory that man who has lost his
arm or his leg or his eye is an object of